http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/07/counter-terrori.html
Counter-Insurgency, Chad-Style By David Axe <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> July 21, 2008 | 9:00:00 AMCategories: Africa <http://blog.wired.com/defense/africa/index.html> <http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/19/610x.jpg> 610x "An alleged [up]rising led <http://jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=333> by an Islamic preacher in the oil-rich southern region of Chad was repressed with great loss of life by government forces in the first days of July," Andrew McGregor reported in Terrorism Focus last week. "The incident in the town of Kouno came in response to calls for an international jihad from Ahmat Ismail Bichara, a fiery 28-year-old religious leader, and the destruction of most of the town by his followers." Funny -- I was in southern Chad at the time, and I didn't hear a peep about this until after the fact. N'Djamena's violent quashing of an embryonic terror and insurgent group, in a total media blackout, demonstrates an ugly brute-force alternative to the West's counter-insurgency strategy, which aims to understand the "human terrain," win hearts and minds, and enlist the support of local tribes before rolling in with tanks and artillery. The crisis began on June 3 when Bichara issued a manifesto declaring jihad against "Christians and atheists." "After Bichara's followers went on a rampage in Kouno, destroying four churches, 158 homes, a medical clinic and a police station, government forces decided to respond in force," McGregor writes: The government assault apparently began as Bichara's followers were listening to what was described as an inflammatory sermon. ... Chad's security minister described Bichara's followers as "intoxicated by indescribable extremism ... almost mad" as they "threw themselves" against the fire of security forces in the belief they were immune to bullets. As many as 75 people died, most of them extremists. Four Chadian soldiers died. Bichara was captured. Having observed firsthand the <http://warisboring.com/?p=1200> Chadian army's atrocious discipline, I can only imagine the chaos of this battle. Trust me: there were most likely child soldiers <http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=2441> (pictured) involved in the fighting; they'll probably have nightmares for years. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
